Questions and Answers about Learned Optimism

1. What role does SELF-ESTEEM play in LEARNED OPTIMISM?
2. Is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy different from Cognitive Therapy?
3. Is LEARNED OPTIMISM different from POSITIVE THINKING?

Q1: What role does SELF-ESTEEM play in LEARNED OPTIMISM?

A: It is thought that self esteem has only a limited role in the skills of flexible optimism. Of the three dimensions of distorted thinking, it is concerned with only the "self-others" dimension. People with high self esteem tend to attribute blame for bad events to others, and they tend to take the credit for good events themselves.

Q2: Is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy different from Cognitive Therapy?

A: Behaviourally oriented methods of therapeutic intervention which have taken on a cognitive dimension have been classified under the label of "cognitive behaviour therapy".

Cognitive Therapy could be considered as having its roots in the philosophical concepts developed by Greek observers as far back as the sixth century, B.C. They sought to establish the precept that ideas and values had to be supported not by faith but by reason and evidence. Down through history, variations of this approach have enjoyed cyclical support. Psychology itself could be viewed as having risen out of the empiricist orientation of philosophers like Hume and Kant. The revolt against myth and suspicion, resulted in an approach to "right thinking" which was brought to bear on people by measures such as advice giving, suggestion, coercive pressure, and persuasion. Although these approaches are still used in various guises today, they have largely failed to produce the expected results.

Behaviourally oriented methods attempt to circumvent the forcing of cognitions on the client. Rather they seek cooperation by providing the patient with graded tasks and assignments calculated to instil new ways of thinking.

Q3: Is LEARNED OPTIMISM different from POSITIVE THINKING?

A: This is a commonly asked and important question. The concept and practice of Positive Thinking has enjoyed almost religious ("If you can't be positive here, be negative somewhere else!") support in recent times. It has been touted as the catalyst for success in fields as diverse as business, sport, politics and personal development. However, along with the crash of the entrepreneurial eighties, there is a growing body of concern about the contribution that such "thinking" may have played in some commercial and personal debacles.

The problem with Positive Thinking is the childlike assumption that we can create our own destiny with the powers of our mind. This idea has some appeal in a pluralistic, materialistic, and individualistic society. It is, however, a distortion of the cognitive therapy model which makes the parsimonious claim that our automatic thoughts influence what we do and how we feel. This is a few steps short of creating destiny. As such the "every day in every way, I'm getting better and better" brigade are considered to be taking a simplistic, pseudo approach to an increasingly complex world.

Learned Optimism on the other hand depends on, and is embedded in, reality. It does not attempt to repress negative thoughts, but rather it reframes them in a systematic way, to better conform with reality and with psychological usefulness. Where the information in negative thoughts was often lost to the devotees of Positive Thinking, Learned Optimism is focussed on sifting relevant and realistic information from them.

Seligman (1990) has demonstrated that merely repeating positive statements to oneself does not raise mood or achievement very much, if at all. He adds that Learned Optimism works not through an unjustifiable positivity about the world, but through the power of "non-negative" thinking. It is an approach that has been developed in the laboratory and in the field, involving more than 800,000 subjects, and approximately 200 doctoral dissertations. The difference between the two is significant and important.

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